Payment & Payout Policy

This Payment & Payout Policy governs Student payments for paid 1:1 online mentorship sessions and mentor payouts on SarthiLink. It applies alongside the Platform Terms, Student Terms, and Mentor Terms.

Mentors set or approve the session prices displayed on their listings, subject to platform rules, promotional controls, and applicable law. Prices may vary by mentor, duration, subject, availability, or offer. The amount payable by a Student is shown before payment confirmation.

SarthiLink may charge a platform fee, commission, convenience charge, taxes, or similar amounts for enabling discovery, booking, payments, calendar coordination, and support. Where applicable, GST or other taxes will be itemised before payment or reflected in invoices, receipts, or platform records in accordance with applicable requirements.

Student payments are collected upfront through Razorpay or another approved payment service provider. A booking is confirmed only after successful payment authorisation and platform confirmation. Payment failures, pending transactions, or bank delays may prevent confirmation or may require support review.

SarthiLink does not store full card numbers, UPI credentials, card CVV, internet banking passwords, or similar sensitive payment authentication details. Such information is handled by Razorpay, banks, card networks, UPI providers, or other regulated payment ecosystem participants under their own terms and security controls.

Students and mentors may receive receipts, tax invoices, payout statements, or transaction summaries depending on the transaction type and information available. Users are responsible for ensuring that billing names, tax identifiers, addresses, and payout details submitted to SarthiLink are accurate and current.

Mentor payouts are calculated from eligible completed sessions, less applicable platform commission, fees, taxes, refunds, reversals, chargebacks, adjustments, withholding, and other deductions permitted by the Mentor Terms. Payouts are made to the payout account provided by the mentor after completion of required onboarding and verification checks.

SarthiLink may process payouts on a periodic schedule rather than immediately after each session. Payouts may be held, delayed, offset, or adjusted for refund windows, Student complaints, no-show review, suspected fraud, tax or identity checks, chargebacks, payment gateway delays, bank failures, disputes, or legal compliance.

Refund eligibility is governed by the Refund & Cancellation Policy. If a refund, reversal, chargeback, or dispute is initiated, SarthiLink may recover the corresponding amount from future mentor payouts, hold unpaid amounts, or request repayment where legally and contractually permissible.

SarthiLink may deduct, collect, report, or withhold tax amounts where required by applicable law, payment partner requirements, or valid government directions. This may include tax deducted at source, GST-related reporting, or other statutory deductions depending on the mentor's status, transaction structure, and information provided.

Mentors are responsible for their own income tax, GST registration and filing where applicable, professional records, invoices, deductions, and compliance with Indian tax law. SarthiLink does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. Mentors should consult qualified advisers for their individual circumstances.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, session prices, payments, refunds, and payouts are processed in Indian Rupees. Banks, payment partners, card networks, UPI systems, and regulators may impose limits, settlement timelines, security checks, or failures that are outside SarthiLink's direct control.

If a technical error, display error, duplicate charge, incorrect commission calculation, or payment gateway mismatch occurs, SarthiLink may correct the transaction, issue or request an adjustment, cancel the booking, or coordinate with Razorpay and affected users to reach a fair operational outcome.

SarthiLink may change fees, commission rates, payout schedules, tax handling, payment partners, or settlement processes with reasonable notice where required. Continued use of paid features after the effective date may be treated as acceptance of the updated payment terms.

Payment or payout questions may be sent to support@sarthilink.com. Formal grievance matters may be escalated to grievance@sarthilink.com under the Grievance Redressal Policy.